Anyone interested in mini-dioramas or display bases for their action figures should cruise on over to TRU and pick up the first wave of Stan Winston Creatures.

Originally priced at $14.99, these have been reduced to $1.98! While the figures are questionable, the bases are AWESOME and make terrific mini-dioramas for 6"-7" scale figures and maybe more. Even the CD-ROM makes a fine coaster!

I picked up Grafitti Designs' Hellboy action figure a while back and was pretty happy with it. The sculpt does a pretty good job of capturing Mike Mignola's artwork and the size lends itself to my 6" scale figures from DC Direct and Marvel Legends.

Now Mezco is offering Hellboy figures from the movie, and while they look positively stunning, they're in the 8" scale. That makes MisterPL a little sad (wishing they were in the 6" or 3 3/4" scale myself), but that Hellboy's a big dude anyway, so what the heck. I probably won't be able to resist.

I thought it was about time to share some of my stuph. I know, Matt; "Where's that frickin' sandcrawler?!" It's coming, I swear.

These are some older pieces I did just for the heck of it. First up is a design for a Concept Darth Vader figure from the art of Ralph McQuarrie. As you can tell by the date, I've been wanting this little guy since '97. Maybe someday.

Then there's this Tessek illo I did as a digital color experiment. Not my best work, but it was fun and the first time I drew this particular character,

I love serving my country, especially if I get to sit in a comfortable chair without guns going off around me. That's a plus.

I got to sit in on a criminal trial for two days last week. We convicted a guy of Simple Assault, Mutual Consent. Basically, two guys got into a fight at work. One guy got hit once in the head and has complained of headaches ever since. (I smell a civil trial around the corner.)

Jury selection was a hoot. There was a Math teacher who decided she could never convict anyone beyond a reasonable doubt. (Dismissed.) One guy who said he'd ALWAYS show bias in favor of a cop because of their jobs to uphold the law. (Dismissed.) And another guy claimed he didn't believe in this system and removed himself from society years ago. (Keep going, buddy. We're still finding you.)

While I considered wearing my Jedi robes, I decided I'd rather have the time off from work for a change of scenery rather than show up as a headline on News of the Weird. Besides, I dig a good argument.

Of course there was none. The prosecuting DA had a terrible case and the defense had a WORSE case. It was pretty entertaining to see so many witnesses impeach their own testimonies one after another. The only two who got things straight were the two dudes in the fight. While they never agreed on who was the aggressor, they both said there was only one punch thrown to the head.

Mezco's Cryptozoology line is finally out. I snagged Bigfoot at TRU yesterday but left the Jersey Devil on the pegs. At $8.99, they're a little pricey for such small figures (3 3/4" scale maybe), but I could not resist having my very own Sasquatch.

The articulation is good, with points at the knees, hips, elbows, and double-jointed shoulders (CommTech Stormie style). No neck articulation since his "mane" is sculpted from his sideburns to his shoulders. It's just one big piece of rubbery material that allows for the shoulder articulation and hides it at the same time. My only concern is how long it will take to dry rot.

Anyone customizers who want to try a Concept Art Chewbacca or supplement their Wookiee army ranks will want to check out Bigfoot.

All this time we thought the Lars Family were just good samaritans. (Well, Aunt Beru was nice...) It turns out that Owen was under orders from Palpatine to keep Luke out of the way until he was ready to succeed his father! But that's not all.

Owen comes by this treachery honestly; he gets it from his dad! Kliegg was ALSO under orders to buy "The Chosen One's" mommy dearest out of slavery and help set up the events that led to her demise. It turns out that Palpy orchestrated the whole thing just to get Ani to start down the path to the dark side.

But once Ani became "damaged goods," Palpy had to start a new search. Along comes Luke. Clearly both Vader and Palpatine knew of "the son of Skywalker" enough to perceive him as a threat. Now we know how.

Here we were wondering, "Why wasn't Luke protected by Kenobi?" Because he was spying for Yoda, explaining the line, "This one, a long time have I watched."

For the record, Beru was oblivious. She was fed the same line of bull Owen gave Luke about his dad being a freighter captain. When she said, "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.," Owen replied knowingly, "That's what I'm afraid of." Now we know why.

Going on toy runs as often as we do, I'm sure we all share similar experiences and run into the same kinds of situations. From finding a decent parking space to struggling with customer service, being a mass market consumer can be trying.

Still, I do my best to be nice. I return carts to the store on the way in, or put them in the "corral" when I'm done. Sometimes I'll even do it for a complete stranger, especially if they're elderly or preoccupied with a small child.

I tidy up the pegs and shelves from time to time, picking up after the last motherless band of kids who weren't taught any better or adults who think it's someone else's job to clean up their mess.

I help other shoppers pick toys, whether I'm directing them to the right aisle or offering advice on what to buy.

I'm friendly to the cashiers whether they like it or not. Most do, the rest are indifferent, but not once have I ever gotten chastised for smiling or using the name on an employee's tag when I bid them a good day.

Over the last few weeks, desperately searching for 2003 Star Wars product, I've had plenty of opportunity to finger someone in the parking lot for driving against traffic or speeding through pedestrian crosswalks. There are always the stereotypical idiot shoppers, a cigarette in one hand, the cell phone in the other as the SUV magically drives itself. Then there are the people who are too lazy to push a cart to the corral 5 feet away, and their counterparts who will walk past carts left in parking spaces on their way into a store and gripe to customer service that there aren't any inside.

Collecting has its challenges, but shopping takes the cake. EVERYBODY shops, especially around the holidays. Freaks who spends 11 and a half months in a van down by the river come out of the woodwork, their lack of shopping etiquette painfully apparent. I'm always running into people who simply should not shop, period. They don't have the patience, the personality, even the aroma to be in a retail environment longer than a minute. It's clear that they hate the very idea of shopping and seem determined to make everyone's experience as miserable as their own.

I give those people the most smiles, almost to the point of laughing right at them. Fish out of water.

I have to say though that despite these little hurdles, my shopping Karma is pretty good. In fact I've got a surplus of it, not just from my actions but from my inactions:

- I didn't honk my horn at the guy in the van driving on the wrong side at a snail's pace.

- I didn't flip off that soccer mom behind me who seemed insistant that turning left on red was perfectly acceptable.

- I didn't make rude comments to the apathetic cashier who was obviously destined for a career as a hairstyle model more than retail management.

Rick McCallum has said that Anakin will not only receive the "Darth Vader" monniker in Episode III, but he'll learn what it means. Let the speculation begin!

I think it's safe to assume that "Darth" is simply an abbreviated form of "Dark Lord of the Sith." But what about "Vader?"

I'm guessing Palpatine will tell Anakin "Vader" is from an ancient Sith dialect meaning "survivor." Personally I think it means "gullible tool" or simply "slave for life" considering the poor guy's never been without a master.

As I was paying for my DVD copy of "Goldmember" at Wal-Mart this afternoon, the cashier, a fellow Austin Powers fan, told me to hang onto the receipt and packaging because Wal-Mart edited some content from their VHS release. He said the scene in which Austin and Mini-Me are shown in suggestive shadowplay was noticably abbreviated. While he didn't know if that was the case with the DVD, he suggested I exercise caution.

Is this guy right? I certainly wouldn't put it past Wal-Mart, with their self-righteous, politically correct, reactionary mass market mindset, to edit scenes from home video releases without disclosing it to the consumer. But this is particularly shady since they have a return policy that specifically excludes opened DVDs.

Why bother exposing Zam Wesell as a shapeshifter in Episode II? Clearly she never used her abilities onscreen to disguise herself as anyone else, not even to escape her Jedi pursuers. I can think of only two reasons:

A) She replaced someone prior to her demise, an act that will be revealed in a flashback.

2) George was setting up the precedent of shapeshifters in the Star Wars Universe so that a curve ball in Episode III would be easier for fans to accept.

I'm guessing (okay, HOPING) that George actually had enough foresight to plan ahead and will be exposing someone - past or present - as a shape-shifter in league with the Sith. It would play well with the whole theme of duplicity that runs rampant through the Saga. But who this time? Sifo-Dyas? Jango Fett? Qui-Gon? Padme?

Anyone looking for a cheap but interesting way to flesh out a Watto's Junkyard diorama or in need of some very affordable friction motors should head to TRU. I found BattleBots on clearance for 50¢ each. Some cool customizing possibilities, especially for the EU crowd or anyone looking to add a little extra personailty to their Sandcrawler.